Dover Thrift Study Editions

Just when you think you've seen it all, you get surprised. Who would have suspected Dover of planning an augmentation to their dependable, cost-effective, thrift editions? Now, for a super reasonable price you get not only the complete and unabridged text of the book but also a comprehensive study guide. The study guide (at the back of the book after the text) starts with an author's biography, historical background, a list of characters, and a summary. Then this introduction concludes with a brief, extremely useful section which provides an analysis of possible reading complications to expect (such as dated language or plot twists) and makes suggestions for setting up a reading schedule. Next follows reading assignments and study segments. The number of these differs with the book (i.e. Frankenstein had 11; Huckleberry Finn, 22) but the format is consistent. There's a listing of new characters, a summary and then analysis (including literary analysis references) of the book segment, ten study questions (with answers), and several suggestions for essays. Questions focus on story aspects and while they lack the depth and application of some of our other study guides, they do an excellent job of covering the basics and giving the reader a quality tool for understanding the book. My only quibble is that the answers follow immediately after the questions making them less than ideal for independent student use. [Maybe someone else can come up with a better quick-fix but I would probably use one of our Post-it index cards and cover the answers as my student worked on the questions.] All in all, these provide a good, solid study of the book and you can't beat the price, which is usually less than other versions of the book. ~ Janice